GREENSBORO, N.C. -- More than 15 Atlantic Coast Conference swimming student-athletes from 10 different schools took part in an ACC Community Connections outreach event Thursday evening before the start of the nightly finals at the 2014 ACC Men’s Swimming Championship.
The student-athletes talked with more than 140 youth swimmers from the Greensboro YMCA, Greensboro Swimming Association and Star Aquatics for more than a half of an hour. They introduced the sport of swimming, discussed the sport’s fundamentals and basic rules, talked about life as an ACC student-athlete and answered questions from the elementary school–aged children.
“I really enjoyed the interaction we had with the kids,” Pitt sophomore Connor O’Prey said. “It was cool because it wasn’t a forced interaction. The kids had plenty of questions for us. I think the student-athletes and the kids had a lot of fun with it. We were all really into it.”
The youth swimmers from the local Greensboro area were able to stay after the program and watch Thursday night’s finals.
“I had never really done anything like that before,” Pitt sophomore Matthew Tankle said. “They had a lot of great questions for us, and I think we made a great connection with the group. It was a lot of fun.”
The ACC Community Connections Program, now in its fourth full year, takes place at all of the conference's Olympic sport championships. The program aims to get local youth the chance to talk with ACC student-athletes, learn about the sport and attend part of the championship.
